Over 3000 cattle through Forbes saleyards

For the last three weeks, the saleyards have seen over 3000 cattle through put at each sale with a record of 3074 cattle sold last Monday.

Forbes Shire Council’s director of engineering and technical services Ray Graham said strong prices as well as drought conditions have increased numbers.

“One of the reasons is that Forbes has very good access to our buyers and the prices they have had in the yards are exceptional,” he said. 

“Also the drought in southern Queensland and northern NSW has seen a lot of producers unloading.”

Mr Graham said that the quality of the livestock has been good and despite the continued high number of cattle, prices have stayed firm.

“The quality has been really good which is reflected in the prices,” he said. 

“The good thing is that even with this amount of cattle, the prices are still strong.”

Mr Graham said that the good prices should encourage sellers to return to Forbes as well as the quality of the yards. 

“It’s such a good facility, it’s state of the art and one of the best cattle sale facilities in Australia with its soft flooring and roof,” he said. 

Mayor Ron Penny said the strong sales are a credit to the Central West Livestock Exchange. 

“It speaks volumes for the standard of the facility to attract these kinds of numbers,” Cr Penny said.

“The design of the yards, which showcase the animals to maximum benefits, [is] a win win for all involved as it allows the true value of the animal to be assessed.”

Full report of the prices and numbers yarded yesterday in Thursday’s Advocate.